Whatever the size of your company, with the right knowledge and skills, even small and local businesses can and attract more customers.

Ash Sharma is the founder and author of SKIPS Educational, a business based in Birmingham that produces educational books for primary school children.

Ash visited the Google Digital Garage to learn how to make his business more visible online. After attending several one-to-one sessions with a Google trainer, Ash learnt how to create a strategy to reach teachers and parents online, including how to use keywords to help his website appear in search results, and how to connect with others using hashtags on social media.

Follow these tips to be like Ash and help make your business more visible online and attract new customers:

Simone Robinson at Google's Digital Garage

Make sure you are visible:

You don’t need to immediately invest in a website, although it is generally worth the effort. You can get your business online quickly by signing up for a free ‘Google my Business’ page which displays your location, opening hours and reviews.

Be ‘mobile ready’:

People in the UK spend two hours on their smartphones every day, twice as long as on laptops and PCs. Make sure your website is navigable on mobile and has a design that formats properly for a smaller screen. Make sure that phone numbers and emails are clickable - if it’s too hard to contact you most people will just try elsewhere.

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Set up social media accounts and make sure to include a link to your website in the bio section. Here you can share information and offers with customers, speak directly to them and learn from their feedback. But use it responsibly – it’s another shop front for your business.

Be visual:

It’s so much easier to understand what a product or service is like when there is a picture alongside. Make sure you invest in good photography and think about how videos could work so that potential customers can visualise their purchase first.

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It’s important to measure what is and what isn’t working by learning how to understand the analytics of any software you are using. Google Analytics allows you to analyse various forms of data, giving you a better understanding of your own customer’s experience. It can help by measuring the success of posts and campaigns, so you can see what is attracting your consumers the most.